ABAKHOONE FOUNDATION: THE PEOPLE OF BUNAMBO KINGDOM

In his book entitled The History of Buluhya published in 1965, John Osogo reported that Abakhoone clan during the period of Bunambo Kingdom, Cirka 1800 was a clan that was feared and hated far and wide by other clans. No one dared engaged Abakhoone in war. From the time they settled in Bunambo they fought and expelled tens of clans. In fact Abakhoone used to believe that they were invincible since they had not lost any war for centuries. And by the time they were fighting their final battle that led to their defeat and subsequent dispersion in 1800, i.e., the war of Esiadikho or Ifunikho, they had a number of great warriors who were feared and revered across many localities by fellow warriors. These were Mufula, the one eyed giant of man who was the most feared warrior in his time. Other warriors fears him to the extent that even after they had speard him to death during the Ifunikho war, they still went ahead and accorded him a descent burial in revernce to his bravery at war.

1. Easterly winds- ikhoma 2. Westerly winds- Buyanza 3. Southerly winds-  imbalakha 4. Northerly winds- mwigundu 5. North-Easterly winds- Masaba 6. South Easterly winds- imboyaka 7. South Easterly winds- ikhoma ya bugwang'a 

Namachanja the father of Chief Sudi was the son of Khisa s/o Ekobi s/o Bule s/o Kayoyo s/o Wekesa s/o Membwe s/o Sirwa s/o Kaya s/o Ngusa s/o Khoone s/o Khoobi s/o Gonja s/o Bwibo s/o Namada. Of the ancestors of Namachanja, Bule going back to Khoobi died in Bunambo (modern day Budalang'i). Gonja, Bwibo and Namada died in Igoye near Lumia hills (in modern day Yimbo location in Siaya). I had presented much of this history  in "The genealogy of Chief Sudi Namachanja" on this blogg. In this post, I want to document the history of the wars Namachanja the son of Khisa fought to defend Bukusuland from invaders. Namachanja is descended from the Abakhoone. This is powerful clan whose origins can still be traced to the Bunambo kingdom in the modern day Budalang'i in Kenya.  Namachanja is remembered as a very powerful figure in the history of the Bukusu. Two of his wives were daughters of Sakwa who was Mumia Nabongo's brother. His other wife, Wabilika the mother of Chi

Most of you might have come across distorted historical material claiming that Ekobi, the great grandfather of Chief Sudi Namachanja was a wondering Mutura boy who adopted by a barren wife of  wealthy Mukhoone man by the name Otunga. I have personally come across this kind of talk and I find it to be misleading. I have also come across some Bakhoone in Bungoma claiming that Abakhoone came from Uganda into Matayos in Busia. This is also wrong. Below I will present to you the family tree of Sudi Namachanja which stretches several generals back as it was documented by R.T.K. Scully of Hartwick College in 1970. I will start with the the Sirwa because the others I had mentioned them in an earlier post entitled "The Genealogy of Abakhoone". Sirwa the father of Membwe. Membwe the father of Wekesa Wekesa the father of Kayoyo and Bilachi Kayoyo the father of Bule, Otunga and Wakoko Bule the father of Ekobi Ekobi the father of Khisa, Mukwana and Mabonga Khisa the father of

Abakhoone people have a number of taboos. 1. Omusiro okwa indeke Among abakhoone, it is a taboo to tie each other an ankle bell (indeke). Indeke can be used, but only when a person can tie it him/herself. The question is why? The reason for this is that in 1800 during the great war of dispersion (Esiadikho), the abakhoone were running away from their enemies (abanyala). Since some of them had young children, they could not travel far away. Instead they simply hid in the nearby bushes, forests or papyrus swamps for protection. Those days it was a tradition to tie ankle bells on children to scare away evil spirits. Therefore when they were in their hideouts, the little children could move about and in the process, the ankle bell could jungle thereby revealing their hideouts to the enemies. As a consequence, the enemies followed the sound of the jingles and killed the bakhoone people who were hiding in various places. The abanyala were simply killing anything, women, children, the

In the precolonial days, the current Budalangi constituency used to be divided into four main principalities. In the far South west towards Siaya, there was Ebulwani where the Abalwani clan lived. To the East towards Siaya, in the area of the present day Ruambwa and Nyadorera in Alego-Usonga, there was the Buongo chieftaincy. In Buongo there lived almost all the small clans that constitute today's subtribe of the Banyala. This included the Abaongo, Ababoro, Abamuripo, Abanyifwa, Abasinyama, Abamakhya, Abakhauka, Abamulembo, and Abanyekera amongst others. In the middle between the mouth of River Yala (which in the olden days the Abakhoone called Obaro or Lukose) across the Ndekwe estuary to the south-eastern shores of River Nzoia, there was Bunambo. In Bunambo there lived solely the Abakhoone. The headquarters of Bunambo was Erukala located between the modern Runyu sub location and River Ndekwe. The locality on the northern banks of the River Nzoia extending from Port Victoria

Bakhone’, the clan of the late paramount chief John Nabutola Members of bakhone clan of the bukusu sub-tribe are currently mourning the death of the late paramount chief john Nabutola. This is one of the greatest clans among the bukusu people that have produced very prominent leaders in this nation. The late paramount chief up to his death has been the chief adviser in the bamarukwa association (a brotherhood association) among the bakhone clan. Members of this clan usually praise themselves saying that they are members of the bakhone bariti bamarukwa barariita lubafu, basingila biili. They call themselves bariiti bamarukwa because in the ancient days when they were still staying in Bunambo (current Budagalngi constituency), leaders came from this clan and no other person from a different clan would lead them. So they are bamaarukwa because they believed they were unconquerable having ruled Bunambo and dominated all the neighbouring chieftaincies for over 400 years. The te

The late Senior Chief Emmanuel Odaba was the last Paramount chief of Nambale Location. After 75 years of the rule of Nambale by Abaguri clan, Odaba managed to takeover in 1980. see the link below for brief audio-visual presentation of his life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBvRAWj-NMs

 Cardinal Otunga Born the son of a traditional paramount chief of the Bukusu, Wasike Lusweti Sudi, and diviner Rosa Namisi. He was of bakhoone clan. See this link for details:  http://www.resurrectiongarden.org/cardinal-otunga/biography/ He was born on January 31, 1923 in Chebukwa, Kakamega Diocese in western Kenya. On giving birth to him, Namisi named her son Simiyu , which signifies “one who is born during the hot and dry season.” On coming to see his infant son, however, Chief Sudi was impressed by his face and chose to call him instead Otunga , which refers to a staff which supports the old or lame. It was a name that would prophetically point towards the infant’s future work.  However, the association of the name Otunga with staff for supporting the lame and elderly walk is somehow erroneous because Otunga , was one of his descendants, a wealth man of abakhoone clan called Otunga was an uncle and guardian to Ekobi, cardinal's great great grand fat